A Symphony Of Sour Notes

Well, this was another one of those bad weeks for Barack Obama; and, he's only been in office for a little less than four of them.

The big flops of the week were his stimulus plan and Tim Geithner's failure to deliver a credit recovery plan.

Certainly, our Congress is set to give Barack Obama his much-desired stimulus package by Monday, President's Day. But, it won't be handed to him on a "silver" platter. Instead, "lead" comes to mind. There's was no real bipartisanship in the development of this lard-laden law. And, only about 34 to 38 percent of Americans agree with this plan; depending on which poll you look at. Every day there are more and more revelations about how wasteful and partisan this spending bill actually is; with stuff either being buried or with liberal agendas being hidden by intentionally ambiguous wording in its over 600 pages.

At his first prime time news conference on Monday, our smooth-talking President proudly declared that there's no pork in his bill. But, I think, most Americans clearly see this thing as a prize-winning, pregnant sow.

On Tuesday, there was that now-famous, fictional short story released by "Tiny Tim Geithner;" our supposed-to-be credit saving hero and head of the U.S. Treasury Department. Ya know, the only guy in the whole wide world that could fill that job. That little story that Geithner painted on Tuesday should have been titled: Coma. His coma. This obviously fictional short story (not the novel the the world was waiting for) was delayed an extra day so Geithner could solidify his numbers. At Barack's news conference on Monday, Mr. Obama refrained from talking about any of the details. He didn't want to steal any of Geithner's thunder. But, now, we really know why Barack was unable to discuss the details. There wasn't any! And, boy, was the President right about stealing his thunder! The stock market was so impressed with the clarity of Geithner's plan to spend somewhere between 200 billion and 2 trillion dollars that it tanked by 400 points. Only after a new rumor, late yesterday, that a better plan was in the works from Geither's Treasury Department, did the stock market snap back enough to be rolled into recovery after spending 3 days in what only could be called a cardiac arrest; with it losing more than 600 points. Only after that rumor was the market able to erase yesterday's 300 point early-morning downdraft.

Then, too, yesterday, our new Prez was actually thrown under the bus. Not just once; but, twice! This was an unusual position for Mr. Obama to be in. Since we've gotten to known him, Barack has always been the thrower and not the recipient of any ground-level bus experiences.

First, he traveled to East Peoria, Illinois to have another one of his campaign-style, "I'm still running for President" town hall meetings with some Caterpiller Corp. employees. This place was chosen because, earlier in the week, Barack had received word from the CEO of Caterpillar that he would rehire some of the 20,000 people that he had just let go; if the stimulus package was passed. In fact, Mr. Obama repeated that pledge at that meeting with the CEO in attendance. But, later, in a separate news session, the CEO managed to throw Obama under the bus by stating he will probably let more people go before he ever hires any people back (Click to see the story and the side-by-side, fiction-versus-fact video). I think it was the left-side of the bus that ran over Mr. Obama this time.

Then, the right front wheel of that bus ran over Obama when Republican Senator Judd Gregg withdrew his nomination as Commerce Secretary. Commenting that "Obama's policies were too much to stomach," Gregg clearly left with a feeling of hollowness about Obama's theme of bipartisanship; noting how partisan the process of putting together the stimulus plan was (See Full Story).

I think this show-piece Republican finally figured out that he was being used in what has been a constant "Show of Shows" from this no-go showboat of a President. I say "no-go" because he constantly contradicts his own policies and campaign promises at almost every turn. He was going to change Washington by having ethics; but, one key nominee after another has been surrounded by ethical issues; like tax evasion. He signed an Executive Order in his first week of office to ban lobbyists from meeting with his Administration; and, to bar any leaving-members of his Administration from becoming lobbyists. Yet, he has managed to nominate former lobbyists (at least 20) to key positions within his new Administration.

Then, there's the most used word in the Obama vocabulary: transparency. But, there hasn't really been a lot of it since he's been in office. The backdoor and behind door meetings, relative to the stimulus plan, are a perfect example. Further, Obama promised to have the contents of every piece of legislation, that was passed by Congress and to be signed by him, up on a website for at least 5 days before he signed it. That didn't happen with the Lilly Ledbetter Act that he signed in his second week; and, for sure, there won't be enough time for the stimulus bill to be on display for 5 days when he signs before this President's Day. The real con-game, and not transparency, was the posting of the 647-page Stimulus Bill that was passed by the House of Representatives. Barack clearly wanted the Senate to pass it quickly before the Republicans, or you and I, or the national press was able to wade through its contents. That's not transparency; that's just another form of sleight of hand.

I can't keep up with all the crap that this new President and his Congress seem to be pushing out the door. I am sure that next week will be another trip through the political equivalent of Disney's Wonder and Fantasy Lands; backed up by an orchestra (the new Administration and Congress) that appears to be outfitted with a bunch of out-of-tune instruments. It will be interesting to see how much more of this Americans will tolerate. He's already come down to earth in the polls by sliding from his pre-Office 78 percent approval rating to one poll that now has him at 55 percent. Most of the others have him at low 60 percent approvals.

When he signs that stimulus bill, he then owns this economy. It will be his to live or die by. It should be an interesting year. It's already been an interesting near-month!